Hi techspot i got a real big problem and i hope you can help me. Listen in, this will be long..............

I've had a problem with my VGA for about 7 months and have gone to every measure to find out what the problem is with the card.

I own a Gigabyte RADEON 9700 PRO and it has never worked properly. I started with a problem of it crashing. Any game i went on froze after 5 seconds. The graphics in those 5 seconds were fine. I decided to search loads of stuff about the problem but i had no luck. After a while i realised the fan was making a bad noise so i sent it in for repair. It came back and when I installed it there was a new problem. Now the graphics don't freeze at all. They have black/purple lines dashed all over the graphics display. You can just about see the graphics inbetween the small black blocks but it is bad to look at . I didn't have a clue what was going on untill I realised something the other day. Lately I've been told that the radeon 9700pro takes up a lot of juice. I only have a 300W power pack and I don't think it's enough to hold the card. The fact I have a P4 3.06 GHZ processer doesn't help the power consumption either.

Please if anyone can help with this problem or/and find out the wattage on my VGA you are a GOD.

you have a 3.06ghz P4 on a wimpy 300w?? please tell me its atleast an Antec or Enermax P.S. and not some ching-chong brand...you definitly need a new power supply...

Yep 300W alrite. I dunno what the make is cause it came with my case from novatech. It gets real hot sometimes so I guess that it does show it can't take the cards. Do you know the wattage on the Radeon 9700Pro?

In this case, it wouldn't matter who made the PSU. If it doesn't provide enough power, it doesn't provide enough power, period.

I do agree though that you should get a reputable brand like Enermax. while cheaper stuff might suffice, companies like Enermax stand behind their product, so if you do have a problem, it will be remedied quickly. Antec is said to also be very good, though I don't have as much personal experience with them, I've been using Enermax however for a long time.

I'm planning on getting a vantec 550W power pack. What r ur views on their PSU'S?

Also if there isn't enough power being supplied to the Radeon 9700Pro how is it likely to perform?

I thought it would not work at all but black lines occur horizontally across he graphics and purple lines occur vertically ocross the screen when there is white colour in the background.

It depends on how much juice it is getting...
If it's just below what it needs, it'll work but you might experience just the trouble you describe...

This is because in a way you're overclocking the card, ie. it runs faster than it can with the amount of juice it's getting.

The signal isn't getting through like it should, because it's too weak to transmit all the info it should at that frequency... (From what you describe, it sounds like the memory is being starved from juice)


As for the PSU, Vantec is far from the worst brand you could buy... While I don't have any personal experience them, what I've read about them on the net doesn't sound too bad...
They're "known for their Stealth series of PSU's, and their ION series seems to be doing good work...

So I think you'll be quite safe with the Vantec 550w...

Ok I'll probably go for it then. Thanks a lot for your help.

NP, and enjoy the gaming experience

Will do Mr GariBaldi

i dunno if tis is the real problem but i notice ur ram is slower then ur motherboard. could tat b the problem??

Sry ... if u dun get wat i mean ... i was tokin about the FSB ... ur PC2700 DDR and ur 533 FSB P4 ... and ur motherboard ... sry if i am wrong but i am new at compitia A+ ...

lol i didn't realise this thread still existed! its nearly 2 years old! Yeah i always wondered why my mobo fsb is 533 not 800, but i got it as soon as it came out.

u could try checkin the mb manual ...

yeah i could but it'll probably say what the motherboard is supposed to be running at and im pretty sure it is a 533. Maybe i should think of overclocking